There’s a saying that goes “Leaders are readers.” Many of us love reading it engages and transports us to places we never could have dreamed of on our own. Many of these great leaders all seem to make the same bold statement about reading – read non-fiction.

I suppose what they really mean is read books that can help you to grow personally and professionally. Books that make you think and inspire you to pursue greater things and opportunities; books that give you skills and can turn you into an expert or things important to leading families, teams, and businesses.

With that in mind I wrote down almost all the books I have read in the past 5 years. In total there are 94. That’s almost 20 books a year, not bad considering my goal was to read one a month. The break down goes like this:

22 Business Related

20 Personal Development Related

32 Non-Fiction Fun

20 Fiction Fun

I was pleased at how the list broke down, seems like a well rounded mix – not all business, not all fun, just a nice balanced diet:

Business
  • Meatball Sundae
  • Rhinoceros Success
  • The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
  • Good to Great
  • Tribes
  • Inspire! Why Customers Come Back
  • Outliers
  • Primal Branding
  • Thou Shall Prosper
  • The Ten Faces of Innovation
  • Blue Ocean Strategy
  • The 4-Hour Workweek
  • Words That Work
  • The Wal-Mart Effect
  • Is Your Company Ready for One-to-One Marketing?
  • Brand Warfare
  • The Tipping Point
  • Getting to Yes
  • Blink
  • The World Is Flat
  • More Than a Game
  • Freakonomics

Personal Development
  • The Go-Getter
  • QBQ
  • Linchpin
  • Flickering Pixels
  • Switch
  • Crazy Love
  • The Principle of the Path
  • The Love Dare
  • Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters
  • The Shack
  • Heaven Is Real
  • Anti-Americanism
  • Wild at Heart
  • The Case for Christ
  • 31 Days to Get the Message
  • Give Me a Break
  • Night
  • If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat
  • Rich Dad, Poor Dad
  • The Total Money Makeover

Non-Fiction Fun
  • Open: An Autobiography
  • The Clinton Tapes
  • Citizen Soldiers
  • Undaunted Courage
  • The Devil in the White City
  • Band of Brothers
  • The Wordy Shipmates
  • What Happened
  • Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson’s Secret White House Tapes, 1964-65
  • 1776
  • The Blair Years
  • iCon Steve Jobs
  • At the Center of the Storm
  • Cesar’s Way
  • The Man Called Cash
  • Thunderstruck
  • State of Denial
  • Rant Zone
  • My Life
  • Catch Me If You Can
  • Dispatches from the Edge
  • Shadow Divers
  • Manhunt Part
  • A Walk in the Woods
  • America’s Secret War
  • Assassination Vacation
  • Team of Rivals
  • Jawbreaker
  • The Second Coming of Steve Jobs
  • DisneyWar
  • Chatter
  • A Short History of Nearly Everything

Fiction Fun
  • Pirate Latitudes
  • Arctic Drift
  • Spartan Gold
  • The Lost Symbol
  • A Matter of Justice
  • Extreme Measures
  • Water for Elephants
  • The Book of Fate
  • Holes
  • The Celestine Prophecy
  • A Salty Piece of Land
  • Executive Orders
  • The Broker
  • Blue Gold
  • Brilliance of the Moon
  • Grass for His Pillow
  • Angels and Demons
  • Left Behind
  • The Da Vinci Code
  • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

*I have the authors for all these books if anyone likes.